Architect hopes to flood world with life-saving earthships

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Mike Reynolds does not have a high opinion of today's
architects. "They're like doctors or lawyers," he said. "They're
all uppity about what they are, and to me they're just f---in' up
the world." A bright-eyed 59-year-old with two pairs of glasses
perched on top of his mane of grey hair, Reynolds is himself an
architect, but one who has spent the past 30 years operating
virtually alone. And from what started out as a hippie ideal of an
alternative lifestyle, he has devised a possible model for houses
of the future.

"The analogy I make is, if you're going to sail across an ocean,
the first thing you want with your vessel is for it to float. What
good is it to be beautiful if it gets out the harbour and sinks?
These buildings that architects are doing; some are beautiful, but
they don't float in today's world." Reynolds designs ships that
float. Earthships, in fact, which he defines as "independent
vessels to sail on the seas of tomorrow".

And although they're not an alternative to the entire practice
of architecture as we know it, they make current standards of
"green" housing look like half-measures.

They don't need to be connected to any utilities, and they don't
harm the environment; nor do they require any significant sacrifice
in terms of living standards, unless you're fond of long
showers.

There are rules about their orientation and there are limits to
their dimensions but, once built, earthships cost virtually nothing
to run.

Reynolds cites a happy customer for whom he built a two-bedroom
earthship a couple of years ago: "She wrote and told us the lowest
temperature in her house was 21C and the highest 24C. And her total
utility bill for the year was $US47 [$61]."

Judging by existing examples, the prevailing aesthetic is
somewhere between pueblo-style adobe, Gaudi and Tolkien.

"I could try to make them look like conventional houses, but why
take a Porsche and make it look like a covered wagon?"

Earthship design evolved in the deserts around the town of Taos,
New Mexico, which are now peppered with Reynolds's previous
experiments.

Steadily, though, over the past three decades, his mission has
gained momentum. There are now more than 1000 Earthships on the
planet, Reynolds estimates. Now he's spreading the word abroad. The
first Earthship summit took place recently in Brighton, where one
of Britain's first earthships is nearing completion.

However, Reynolds knows he'll have difficulty persuading
Brighton, or anywhere else, to give him a city block to experiment
with, but his conviction is likely to win through. "People love
their old buildings, even though they're worthless," he said.
"That's tradition. You're throwing them the green life preserver,
and they're just going to sit there and drown."